Coach Montgomery’s Weekly Press Conference Quotes
August 27, 2018 | Football
GREENVILLE, N.C. – Third-year ECU Head Football Coach Scottie Montgomery addressed members of the media on Monday prior to the season opener this weekend against North Carolina A&T. The following are selected comments:
Opening Statement:
"It feels great to be back in game week even though this season started eight months ago for us. During the FBS Championship, was the first time I had the chance to talk to our returning players and the 11 mid-year enrollees that we had come back on campus and I promised our club, that as a staff, we would do everything possible over the next eight months to help them become successful as student-athletes. I also challenged them to give the program every single bit of mental and physical toughness daily. Which is where we started the 'Work the Body'. Since then, we've added very talented recruits, we added very knowledgeable coaches who are also great men. We shifted our spring practices up by a month so that we could install the changes of our offense, defense and special teams and give our kids the best opportunity to perfect those installations.
"Over the next few months, we added a mandatory breakfast meal that we saw huge gains from. We really took on the mentality of science over tradition. This has really helped us improve our team's speed and strength. Thanks to our wonderful fans, the Pirate Club, and the loyal Pirate Nation, we were able to walk into a new facility at training camp. That was very important. We opened up our locker room, a new training and new equipment room. The training room is probably been the most beneficial for our program. We have had our healthiest team on the football field this fall. We've seen very minor injuries, haven't seen many season-ending injuries. We do have one to talk about, however, we have had very few soft tissue injuries which is directly connected to our guys' ability to go into the training room and get all of the treatment that they deserve and that they need. That has been very critical for us.
"We have since then gone out and had a training camp where we've had a successful camp at the quarterback position, we've had successful training camp in our offensive team, our defensive team and our special teams. We've been really, really pleased with all of that. All of that combined, it feels good to say here at ECU that we have put the student-athlete first, which is where we have struggled in the past. I'm really, really happy with where the team is now. We're coming off the most successful training camp that we've had since I've been here, not only from a health standpoint but from how we're playing on the field. We're on a pursuit of excellence for this football program. I think we've checked a lot of the boxes for our program. All of the things that I've talked about were the things we talked about with our staff going in to February. We needed to check each of these boxes and until we did, we could not move on. Well we've checked a lot of the boxes that I've talked about today and there's one final box that we need to check as a football team and that's our team performance on the field. So, we're really driven for this season and for these young men. We also have to realize that there will be ups and downs for every season that you have, but we're just a little bit more equipped to handle it."
On North Carolina A&T:
"We have a big time game on our hands against a great football program. Sam Washington has done a fantastic job of continuing the culture of football at North Carolina A&T. There's one thing that I will say about this football program – I have looked at a lot of teams, I have watched a lot of teams for a long time, playing football and coaching football. Their culture of playing hard rivals anyone's I've ever seen on tape. Defensively, they are a fantastic football team that runs to the football. They play great base defense and Coach Washington is one of the best football minds in the country, bar none. He is in a situation where he has a belief system and it shows up. He believes in stopping the run and that's exactly what they do. When they have the talent that they have at the defensive end position, with Darryl Johnson and then at the corner position with Mac (McCain), they stop the run and they're very good in pass defense as well, they can do it all.
"Offensively, they're led by Coach (Chris) Barnette, who has a long history in this state with he and his brother being fantastic people, players and now coaches. He's a coordinator that understands exactly what the coach wants to do and they do it well. They're led on offense by a fantastic player at quarterback. Lamar (Raynard) is one of the best players that we've had to open a season against. A lot of times you don't get to see the returning conference player-of-the-year to open the season. They're really talented, they're one of the only teams that you play that returns the starting quarterback, the starting running back and the starting receiver that put up big numbers. So, we're challenged there on defense. The last piece of the puzzle is their special teams unit. That was a critical point in them winning the football game. Overall, we're looking at an incredibly well-rounded football team that is extremely talented, well coached and they complete the trifecta by playing as hard as anyone I've seen play on tape."
On Advantage Of North Carolina A&T Already Playing One Game:
"I think it's half full, half empty. I think the pros and cons of both of them are pretty simple. The simple way to look at it is the way we have to look at it, is that A&T has got out all the pregame jitters out. They've gone through game week and understand what it's like to get off the bus ready to play. They've played in a game and have had to deal with the conditioning that happens in games. But the flip side is that we don't know where their health level is after that first game. There may have been things that happened in that game that we don't know and we haven't had to go through that yet. For us, we have to worry about the pregame jitters and all of those things. We have had a lot of changes on offense, on defense and on special teams, which no one has seen at this point of time besides our kids, our coaches and some of our fans. So, there's been some things that have changed that no one knows about, but there's also been some things that they've been through that can show us what they're going to do in certain situations. There's a certain group of people that think the biggest jump happens between week one and week two. I don't necessarily believe that. I feel the biggest jump happens between January and August and that's what we're concentrating on right now. We're really trying to focus and be ready for the football team."
On North Carolina A&T's Performance:
"When you turn on the tape and watch what they do, they're the hardest playing football team that we saw. When we came back in here and watched it on tape, they had a few near-misses on offense that prevented them from having a really great day. A couple of things that it's hard for the eye to see on the TV copy, we saw that it was a few little mental errors here and there and they could have had an explosive day. Another thing I thought is they stopped the run. It was really, really hard for Jacksonville State to create any kind of momentum in the game with running the football. Then you looked out at the defensive secondary for A&T and they were challenging every single receiver that they had. They really made it a grind it out game. I know exactly where he's coming from with that so, I thought their overall performance was pretty good when you watch it on the TV copy. They're a team that will get better, but I thought they picked up right where they left off. They're going to be a hard team to beat for us and for a lot of opponents this year. They have their culture intact."
On How The Running Back Depth Chart Was Decided:
"Pure performance, nothing else. We told them way back in January and February, we were going to make it about pure performance. About taking care of the football, about who can have the most impact plays. That doesn't necessarily mean with the ball in your hand. That means down the field blocking, that means everything. So, at the end of the day, it's a situation where we're basing it off performance. That could change, but where we're at now is that Anthony Scott is at the number one position. Trace Christian has come along hard at the number two position. Hopefully we can get a lot of people carries in this football game."
On Coach Blackwell Coaching At Jacksonville State Last Year:
"I studied Coach Blackwell a year or so of course, so now we have two years of information on what Jacksonville State is doing against a team that we're playing. A lot of the schemes that we saw in that game are very similar to the schemes that we have. With the addition of course of a couple of things that we've done to put a twist on our defense. We know how they (North Carolina A&T) can attack us in a couple of different situations and we also know that there was a few near-misses for A&T that we should pay attention to that they can be a lot better at. But having him in the building and seeing that same opponent, it gives us a good little advantage of knowing how they're going to try to attack us this weekend."
On Ben Norris' Injury:
"Very unfortunate that Ben Norris will be out. More than likely, he is out for the season and out for his career. We've gone into a situation where, I listen to a lot of people talk about where we are in the world of concussions and it means a lot to me. We are in a situation where he's had multiple concussions and he was also in a situation where he had worked to number one in the depth chart. With the medical advice that we have here at ECU and my belief in putting the student-athlete first, he's in a situation where he's not going to play football at this time. It's very unfortunate but at the end of the day, we're more concerned with making the correct decisions and not the ones that make us all feel good, but the correct decisions for the student-athlete 30 years from now. We're really sad about that, he has been all in. He gained a lot of strength and muscle and was doing really, really well in camp."
On Performance Of Young Tight Ends:
"He (Norris) was battling (Johnny) Bogle for the number one position and Bogle ended up winning it. Then, all of a sudden, we tried D'Angelo McKinnie. I came to the defense and they were all upset with me because I got one of their biggest and fastest athletes. But he was also buried a little bit behind some of the defensive players we have. Because of him being buried, I wanted to see what he could do at tight end. I put him over there in the run period and they're never getting a chance to see him again because of how big he is, how physical he is. He's 6'5", maybe bigger, 261 pounds at tight end. Then we had to move into the practice portion where it's routes vs air. I had no idea he could catch it. I just wanted to bring him over there and see if we could sneak him out in the flat. Now he's running curl routes, he's catching dig routes, he's catching everything. We kind of lucked into D'Angelo McKinnie. You don't get 6'5" 260 pound tight ends. He came to our camp a few years ago and won the Fastest Big Man contest. I didn't put it all together but a few weeks into camp, I put it together so now we're looking at him and Bogle as both of the starters. We'll find out who runs out first depending on what we do."
On Coach Montgomery's Change In Attitude During Game Week:
"Our attitude changed last February when we went out and started this mission. These guys are hungry. A lot of them haven't had to experience some of the things that we've experience. I keep reminding our staff that there's a good portion of our staff that doesn't understand where we started and there's a good portion of our team that doesn't understand where we started. That's why we lean on Garrett McGhin and him having a very passionate speech to the team on where we were and where we are now and what we're able to do on the field. We have a lot more talent on the field, but the attention to detail and sense of urgency shows we're at a really good point with our football team right now. People are sharp. We prepared last week like it was a game. We did everything we could do to make it as much game like as we could. We split our teams up and I thought they went out and performed well. We have a heightened sense of urgency that's for sure."
On What Stands Out For North Carolina A&T:
"The first thing that we have to be very mindful of is their play at defensive end. Darryl Johnson is a playmaker, he is an impact player. He had more of a positive effect on the outcome of the game than anybody. He made a big play down there on the goal line where he got inside the tight end and created a tackle for a loss. The last play of the game where he was able to create a turnover by just outworking his opponent. He presents a huge challenge for us. We've really got to do a good job of getting him blocked. He is a really talented pass rusher. He could be a guy that you see on Sunday's for a long time. Really, really impressed with how he plays the game. Then offensively, we've got to be able to maintain this quarterback. He can run, he can throw and we've got to get him contained. Our pass rush lanes have to be correct every single time. They're really talented at back, so it puts you in a situation that you feel you have to load the box, but he's so talented at quarterback that you have to keep him in the box. Those are the types of things that we're worried about. Then on special teams, we have to keep No. 88 (Malik Wilson) bottled up. He's fast and quick. You go back to last year's game, he made plays offensively. He had a huge impact against Jacksonville State, taking it back. I thought the special teams unit for A&T, on that particular play, was as well coached and well-executed as we've seen. Then when you have a guy like him back there catching it, they're good."
On Expectations For The Crowd:
"There have been a lot of things that have changed, a lot of growth and a lot of newness. A lot of good feelings about where we are right now. I expect Pirate Nation to be Pirate Nation. Now what we've done, from that point in January, is make sure that when the product goes out on the field, that we've done what we're supposed to do. A lot of the stuff we've done between January and August came from the help of Dave Hart, Lee Workman and J.J. McLamb. They've done a good job of helping us to get to where we are. We're expecting them (fans) to show up and show out. This will be a great atmosphere. A&T is going to bring a lot of fans and we're going to show up. Pirate Nation will be great and our kids will respond to it. It feels really great to be able to start the season, it's fresh. We're looking forward to a great start to the season and a performance that's excellent. We're hunting excellence this weekend."
On Thoughts This Year Versus Feelings Two Years Ago:
"The first year, I think I was more concerned about covering stuff up. Trying to cover up the inadequacies and it was really trying to figure out how to maneuver and make things the correct way. Now the feeling is, I want to display what we've done versus trying to cover up. Now we've put ourselves in the position that we feel we're deep. I'm a lot calmer than I was then. I'll be a lot more responding rather than being reactionary this week in practice. My thought pattern is that we have to go out and perform well. I just feel a lot better with where we are and who we are, on the football field and on the sidelines. We've got to do a good job of making sure our kids understand that it's student-athlete first. We know that, we understand that. We have a better understanding of where our kids are than we did two years ago. Sometimes when you come in from a different situation, you forget about where the student-athletes where right before you got here. Now we have a good understanding about it so my thought pattern has changed a little bit. It's being less reactionary and more responding, but we still have the same goal in mind. That's going out and have a great performance."
On Backup Quarterback Battle:
"It was really, really close. It was one of those things that went to weeks into camp before it really started to change. Some of that in a perfect world, it would be great to redshirt Holton (Ahlers). With the new rules, we still have the ability to play Holton and I think that's something that you will see. I think that this is a situation where Kingsley (Ifedi) should be praised on the way that he has come in and performed. It's not that Holton didn't perform to a level, he performed to a really high level. Kingsley performed at a level that we didn't know he would get to so quickly. We've got two guys at that position right now that I feel very confident of them going in a winning a game. Not just operating in a game, but winning a game. But at the end of the day, it came to the knowledge of our system, fixing some of the situations on the field, and it's just one year of experience over a guy. But we're really looking forward to the future of the position."
On Tahj Deans Not Appearing On The Depth Chart:
"He's fine, he'll be playing quite a bit. He had a few setbacks in camp, but he's back on board and he's fine. You'll see him this week."
Opening Statement:
"It feels great to be back in game week even though this season started eight months ago for us. During the FBS Championship, was the first time I had the chance to talk to our returning players and the 11 mid-year enrollees that we had come back on campus and I promised our club, that as a staff, we would do everything possible over the next eight months to help them become successful as student-athletes. I also challenged them to give the program every single bit of mental and physical toughness daily. Which is where we started the 'Work the Body'. Since then, we've added very talented recruits, we added very knowledgeable coaches who are also great men. We shifted our spring practices up by a month so that we could install the changes of our offense, defense and special teams and give our kids the best opportunity to perfect those installations.
"Over the next few months, we added a mandatory breakfast meal that we saw huge gains from. We really took on the mentality of science over tradition. This has really helped us improve our team's speed and strength. Thanks to our wonderful fans, the Pirate Club, and the loyal Pirate Nation, we were able to walk into a new facility at training camp. That was very important. We opened up our locker room, a new training and new equipment room. The training room is probably been the most beneficial for our program. We have had our healthiest team on the football field this fall. We've seen very minor injuries, haven't seen many season-ending injuries. We do have one to talk about, however, we have had very few soft tissue injuries which is directly connected to our guys' ability to go into the training room and get all of the treatment that they deserve and that they need. That has been very critical for us.
"We have since then gone out and had a training camp where we've had a successful camp at the quarterback position, we've had successful training camp in our offensive team, our defensive team and our special teams. We've been really, really pleased with all of that. All of that combined, it feels good to say here at ECU that we have put the student-athlete first, which is where we have struggled in the past. I'm really, really happy with where the team is now. We're coming off the most successful training camp that we've had since I've been here, not only from a health standpoint but from how we're playing on the field. We're on a pursuit of excellence for this football program. I think we've checked a lot of the boxes for our program. All of the things that I've talked about were the things we talked about with our staff going in to February. We needed to check each of these boxes and until we did, we could not move on. Well we've checked a lot of the boxes that I've talked about today and there's one final box that we need to check as a football team and that's our team performance on the field. So, we're really driven for this season and for these young men. We also have to realize that there will be ups and downs for every season that you have, but we're just a little bit more equipped to handle it."
On North Carolina A&T:
"We have a big time game on our hands against a great football program. Sam Washington has done a fantastic job of continuing the culture of football at North Carolina A&T. There's one thing that I will say about this football program – I have looked at a lot of teams, I have watched a lot of teams for a long time, playing football and coaching football. Their culture of playing hard rivals anyone's I've ever seen on tape. Defensively, they are a fantastic football team that runs to the football. They play great base defense and Coach Washington is one of the best football minds in the country, bar none. He is in a situation where he has a belief system and it shows up. He believes in stopping the run and that's exactly what they do. When they have the talent that they have at the defensive end position, with Darryl Johnson and then at the corner position with Mac (McCain), they stop the run and they're very good in pass defense as well, they can do it all.
"Offensively, they're led by Coach (Chris) Barnette, who has a long history in this state with he and his brother being fantastic people, players and now coaches. He's a coordinator that understands exactly what the coach wants to do and they do it well. They're led on offense by a fantastic player at quarterback. Lamar (Raynard) is one of the best players that we've had to open a season against. A lot of times you don't get to see the returning conference player-of-the-year to open the season. They're really talented, they're one of the only teams that you play that returns the starting quarterback, the starting running back and the starting receiver that put up big numbers. So, we're challenged there on defense. The last piece of the puzzle is their special teams unit. That was a critical point in them winning the football game. Overall, we're looking at an incredibly well-rounded football team that is extremely talented, well coached and they complete the trifecta by playing as hard as anyone I've seen play on tape."
On Advantage Of North Carolina A&T Already Playing One Game:
"I think it's half full, half empty. I think the pros and cons of both of them are pretty simple. The simple way to look at it is the way we have to look at it, is that A&T has got out all the pregame jitters out. They've gone through game week and understand what it's like to get off the bus ready to play. They've played in a game and have had to deal with the conditioning that happens in games. But the flip side is that we don't know where their health level is after that first game. There may have been things that happened in that game that we don't know and we haven't had to go through that yet. For us, we have to worry about the pregame jitters and all of those things. We have had a lot of changes on offense, on defense and on special teams, which no one has seen at this point of time besides our kids, our coaches and some of our fans. So, there's been some things that have changed that no one knows about, but there's also been some things that they've been through that can show us what they're going to do in certain situations. There's a certain group of people that think the biggest jump happens between week one and week two. I don't necessarily believe that. I feel the biggest jump happens between January and August and that's what we're concentrating on right now. We're really trying to focus and be ready for the football team."
On North Carolina A&T's Performance:
"When you turn on the tape and watch what they do, they're the hardest playing football team that we saw. When we came back in here and watched it on tape, they had a few near-misses on offense that prevented them from having a really great day. A couple of things that it's hard for the eye to see on the TV copy, we saw that it was a few little mental errors here and there and they could have had an explosive day. Another thing I thought is they stopped the run. It was really, really hard for Jacksonville State to create any kind of momentum in the game with running the football. Then you looked out at the defensive secondary for A&T and they were challenging every single receiver that they had. They really made it a grind it out game. I know exactly where he's coming from with that so, I thought their overall performance was pretty good when you watch it on the TV copy. They're a team that will get better, but I thought they picked up right where they left off. They're going to be a hard team to beat for us and for a lot of opponents this year. They have their culture intact."
On How The Running Back Depth Chart Was Decided:
"Pure performance, nothing else. We told them way back in January and February, we were going to make it about pure performance. About taking care of the football, about who can have the most impact plays. That doesn't necessarily mean with the ball in your hand. That means down the field blocking, that means everything. So, at the end of the day, it's a situation where we're basing it off performance. That could change, but where we're at now is that Anthony Scott is at the number one position. Trace Christian has come along hard at the number two position. Hopefully we can get a lot of people carries in this football game."
On Coach Blackwell Coaching At Jacksonville State Last Year:
"I studied Coach Blackwell a year or so of course, so now we have two years of information on what Jacksonville State is doing against a team that we're playing. A lot of the schemes that we saw in that game are very similar to the schemes that we have. With the addition of course of a couple of things that we've done to put a twist on our defense. We know how they (North Carolina A&T) can attack us in a couple of different situations and we also know that there was a few near-misses for A&T that we should pay attention to that they can be a lot better at. But having him in the building and seeing that same opponent, it gives us a good little advantage of knowing how they're going to try to attack us this weekend."
On Ben Norris' Injury:
"Very unfortunate that Ben Norris will be out. More than likely, he is out for the season and out for his career. We've gone into a situation where, I listen to a lot of people talk about where we are in the world of concussions and it means a lot to me. We are in a situation where he's had multiple concussions and he was also in a situation where he had worked to number one in the depth chart. With the medical advice that we have here at ECU and my belief in putting the student-athlete first, he's in a situation where he's not going to play football at this time. It's very unfortunate but at the end of the day, we're more concerned with making the correct decisions and not the ones that make us all feel good, but the correct decisions for the student-athlete 30 years from now. We're really sad about that, he has been all in. He gained a lot of strength and muscle and was doing really, really well in camp."
On Performance Of Young Tight Ends:
"He (Norris) was battling (Johnny) Bogle for the number one position and Bogle ended up winning it. Then, all of a sudden, we tried D'Angelo McKinnie. I came to the defense and they were all upset with me because I got one of their biggest and fastest athletes. But he was also buried a little bit behind some of the defensive players we have. Because of him being buried, I wanted to see what he could do at tight end. I put him over there in the run period and they're never getting a chance to see him again because of how big he is, how physical he is. He's 6'5", maybe bigger, 261 pounds at tight end. Then we had to move into the practice portion where it's routes vs air. I had no idea he could catch it. I just wanted to bring him over there and see if we could sneak him out in the flat. Now he's running curl routes, he's catching dig routes, he's catching everything. We kind of lucked into D'Angelo McKinnie. You don't get 6'5" 260 pound tight ends. He came to our camp a few years ago and won the Fastest Big Man contest. I didn't put it all together but a few weeks into camp, I put it together so now we're looking at him and Bogle as both of the starters. We'll find out who runs out first depending on what we do."
On Coach Montgomery's Change In Attitude During Game Week:
"Our attitude changed last February when we went out and started this mission. These guys are hungry. A lot of them haven't had to experience some of the things that we've experience. I keep reminding our staff that there's a good portion of our staff that doesn't understand where we started and there's a good portion of our team that doesn't understand where we started. That's why we lean on Garrett McGhin and him having a very passionate speech to the team on where we were and where we are now and what we're able to do on the field. We have a lot more talent on the field, but the attention to detail and sense of urgency shows we're at a really good point with our football team right now. People are sharp. We prepared last week like it was a game. We did everything we could do to make it as much game like as we could. We split our teams up and I thought they went out and performed well. We have a heightened sense of urgency that's for sure."
On What Stands Out For North Carolina A&T:
"The first thing that we have to be very mindful of is their play at defensive end. Darryl Johnson is a playmaker, he is an impact player. He had more of a positive effect on the outcome of the game than anybody. He made a big play down there on the goal line where he got inside the tight end and created a tackle for a loss. The last play of the game where he was able to create a turnover by just outworking his opponent. He presents a huge challenge for us. We've really got to do a good job of getting him blocked. He is a really talented pass rusher. He could be a guy that you see on Sunday's for a long time. Really, really impressed with how he plays the game. Then offensively, we've got to be able to maintain this quarterback. He can run, he can throw and we've got to get him contained. Our pass rush lanes have to be correct every single time. They're really talented at back, so it puts you in a situation that you feel you have to load the box, but he's so talented at quarterback that you have to keep him in the box. Those are the types of things that we're worried about. Then on special teams, we have to keep No. 88 (Malik Wilson) bottled up. He's fast and quick. You go back to last year's game, he made plays offensively. He had a huge impact against Jacksonville State, taking it back. I thought the special teams unit for A&T, on that particular play, was as well coached and well-executed as we've seen. Then when you have a guy like him back there catching it, they're good."
On Expectations For The Crowd:
"There have been a lot of things that have changed, a lot of growth and a lot of newness. A lot of good feelings about where we are right now. I expect Pirate Nation to be Pirate Nation. Now what we've done, from that point in January, is make sure that when the product goes out on the field, that we've done what we're supposed to do. A lot of the stuff we've done between January and August came from the help of Dave Hart, Lee Workman and J.J. McLamb. They've done a good job of helping us to get to where we are. We're expecting them (fans) to show up and show out. This will be a great atmosphere. A&T is going to bring a lot of fans and we're going to show up. Pirate Nation will be great and our kids will respond to it. It feels really great to be able to start the season, it's fresh. We're looking forward to a great start to the season and a performance that's excellent. We're hunting excellence this weekend."
On Thoughts This Year Versus Feelings Two Years Ago:
"The first year, I think I was more concerned about covering stuff up. Trying to cover up the inadequacies and it was really trying to figure out how to maneuver and make things the correct way. Now the feeling is, I want to display what we've done versus trying to cover up. Now we've put ourselves in the position that we feel we're deep. I'm a lot calmer than I was then. I'll be a lot more responding rather than being reactionary this week in practice. My thought pattern is that we have to go out and perform well. I just feel a lot better with where we are and who we are, on the football field and on the sidelines. We've got to do a good job of making sure our kids understand that it's student-athlete first. We know that, we understand that. We have a better understanding of where our kids are than we did two years ago. Sometimes when you come in from a different situation, you forget about where the student-athletes where right before you got here. Now we have a good understanding about it so my thought pattern has changed a little bit. It's being less reactionary and more responding, but we still have the same goal in mind. That's going out and have a great performance."
On Backup Quarterback Battle:
"It was really, really close. It was one of those things that went to weeks into camp before it really started to change. Some of that in a perfect world, it would be great to redshirt Holton (Ahlers). With the new rules, we still have the ability to play Holton and I think that's something that you will see. I think that this is a situation where Kingsley (Ifedi) should be praised on the way that he has come in and performed. It's not that Holton didn't perform to a level, he performed to a really high level. Kingsley performed at a level that we didn't know he would get to so quickly. We've got two guys at that position right now that I feel very confident of them going in a winning a game. Not just operating in a game, but winning a game. But at the end of the day, it came to the knowledge of our system, fixing some of the situations on the field, and it's just one year of experience over a guy. But we're really looking forward to the future of the position."
On Tahj Deans Not Appearing On The Depth Chart:
"He's fine, he'll be playing quite a bit. He had a few setbacks in camp, but he's back on board and he's fine. You'll see him this week."
Players Mentioned
Running Back
/ Football
Wide Receiver
/ Football
Offensive Line
/ Football
Tight End
/ Football
Tight End
/ Football
Running Back
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East Carolina Bowl Press Conference (Jon Gilbert and Blake Harrell)
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